Kevin Matthews Thomas Janicki University of North Carolina Wilmington

Background Literature Review Benefits and Need System Development Hypothesis Limitations Conclusions

Increased need for computer literacy skills National Science Foundation (NSF) National Research Council (NRC) College requirements for literacy

Increased class size as budgets are cut, may lead to: Fewer assignments Simpler assignments Less personalized feedback Longer delay in returning grading Increase plagiarism

How could technology assist the instructor to increase student learning in computer literacy courses?

Nine elements that should be present in order for learning to occur (Gagne, Briggs, Wager) Gain attention Inform learner on the objective Stimulation recall of prior learning Presenting the stimulus Provide learning guidance Eliciting performance Providing feedback Assessing performance Enhancing retention and transfer *most related to success (Martin Klein, Sullivan)

Contiguity Repetition Feedback (Gagne, Briggs, Wager)

Traditional LearningResource Based Learning Teacher as expert modelTeacher as facilitator / guide Textbook as primary sourceVariety of sources / media Facts as primaryQuestions as primary Information is packagedInformation is discovered Emphasis on productEmphasis on process Assessments is quantitativeAssessment is qualitative / quantitative Rakes

Using course management software 30% of graded assignments had NO feedback Excluded perfect score assignments Average of 28 days to score an assignment! Various grading keys when done manually These do not lead to learning

To be effective, the students response to concepts should immediately follow instruction. Multiple assignments of similar nature should be presented repetitively to reinforce new material presented during a lesson. Quick and customized feedback allows a student to identify correct answers and see errors in incorrect answers. The best way to reach this goal of student success is to adopt a resource-based approach to learning.

Benefits/Features AGLSCase-basedProceduralTest-Bank Challenging, real-world problems Automated grading Consistent grading Instant feedback Customized feedback Web interface/portal Multiple skills assessed concurrently Hands-on experience Smaller one-skill problems Question/assignment library Reduced preparation/paperwork time for instructor Availability of student reporting Expandable answer banks Repository for file submissions Plagiarism detection Instructor created exercises

Limitations AGLS Case- based Proced ural Test- Bank Answers must be exact matches Limited number of cases Textbook/supplemental required Software must be installed Simulated environment Other purchases required

AGLS ( Grading Modules) Grading Key Student Files Service Requested Score Correct Answers Incorrect Answers Feedback INPUTOUTPUT

Key (ideal) correct answer given Student answer differs Instructor prompted with correct answer and student answer Instructor deems an answer as correct or incorrect An answer is only seen once

Key (ideal) names given for tables, fields, etc. Students may have typos or misspellings Instructor prompted with all table names, field names, etc. Instructor deems a name acceptable. A penalty may be given.

Data Gathering Existing grade book of feedback comments and response time Expert panel to evaluate quality of feedback comments

H 0 (μ 1 – μ 2 = 0): The use of the AGLS will not affect the amount of feedback provided to students. H 1 (μ 1 – μ 2 < 0): The use of the AGLS will increase the amount of feedback provided to students. ControlExperiment Mean Sample Size t statistic-6.57 Two tail p value5.8 x

H 0 :The use of the AGLS will not affect the quality of feedback provided to students. H 1 : The use of the AGLS will increase the quality of feedback provided to students. ControlExperiment Mean Sample Size4951 t statistic-1.13 Two tail p value.26

H 0 :The use of the AGLS will not affect the time for an assignment to be graded. H 1 (μ 1 – μ 2 < 0): The use of the AGLS will decrease the time for an assignment to be graded. ControlExperiment Mean Sample Size t statistic33.43 Two tail p value x

The use of the AGLS will increase the amount of feedback provided to students. The use of the AGLS will NOT affect the quality of feedback provided to students. The use of the AGLS will decrease the time for an assignment to be graded.

Only Access and Excel 2007 Only certain items were initially included to be graded

Web Service Refined library of assignments and correct/incorrect answers Additional features to be graded Testing outside of introductory computer course domain